Ad of the Day: Gatorade

Forty years after Title IX, the sports drink urges teen girls to keep playing

By Emma Bazilian on June 28, 2012

Forty years ago, the anti-discrimination amendment known as Title IX changed the way that girls participate in high school and college athletics. Since then, the number of girls who play high school sports has soared from about 300,000 to nearly 3 million.

Still, there’s a major division of the sexes when it comes to sticking with sports through high school. According to Gatorade and the Women's Sports Foundation, although boys and girls participate equally between the ages of 6 and 12, girls by age 14 drop out of athletics at twice the rate of their male counterparts. And with all the pressure on teenagers to worry about boys, makeup and body image, it’s no surprise that their attention wanders elsewhere.

That’s why Gatorade teamed up with the Women's Sports Foundation to launch the “Keep Her In The Game” campaign, which encourages girls to stay in athletics. For the initiative, TBWA/ChiatDay Los Angeles created a spot showing just how difficult it can be for young women to keep their eye on the ball. The spot opens with a group of girls playing soccer, but they’re interrupted by a PA system bombarding them with stock headlines like “What Guys Notice” and “Are You Ready for Swimsuit Season?” Distracted, the players—transformed into a group of overly made-up, provocatively dressed teens—leave the game, while the narrator warns, “Don’t let them walk away from their potential.”

It’s no use expecting the media to willingly cut back on the makeover tips, dieting tricks and flirting advice aimed at girls, but if parents can encourage their daughters to concentrate on something more positive—whether athletics, academics or the arts—maybe we can come that much closer to the goal set by Title IX 40 years ago.